Richard Litton (l), Audra Bullock (c) and Gary Boswick (r)
The Program
President Gary introduced our speaker, Audra Bullock, President of Norfolk Friends of Foster Care.
Ms. Bullock holds B.S., M.S. and PhD degrees from ODU in electrical engineering, and previously was on the engineering faculty at the University of Hawaii. She also worked at NASA Langley Research Center. In addition to these impressive professional credentials, she is well versed in the important lessons of life, and particularly the needs of children in our community.
Ms. Bullock and her husband, Richard Litton, support numerous children initiatives and have been foster parents for three (3) foster children. Through their experiences, they saw first-hand the overwhelming needs of foster children in our community.
As Ms. Bullock explained, the needs are great. Over 400,000 children nationwide and over 5,000 in Virginia are in foster care. In Norfolk, there are over 200 children in foster care, with about half in individual homes and half in group homes. Children rotate in and out of foster care and many spend their childhood in many different homes. Moreover, children “age out” of foster care in Virginia at age 18, at a time when many of these children have not completed high school and are without any means of support and no one to fall back on for support.
The lack of stability and resources have significant impacts on the children and diminishes any chance of a healthy childhood environment. The consequences are borne out by the statistics reflecting higher levels of high school dropouts, higher juvenile crime and generational poverty.
Seeing the overwhelming need, Audra Bullock and her husband, Richard Litton, started “Norfolk Friends of Foster Care” (“NFFC”) in June of 2016, as a 501(c) 3 charitable organization aligned with the Norfolk Department of Human Services, Foster Care Division.
The mission of the NFFC is to ensure that children in the Norfolk foster care system have the best childhood possible, by employing a two prong approach. First, NFFC, through outreach programs, seeks to raise awareness of the needs of foster children and the need for more foster parents. Ms. Bullock noted that most foster parents had previously been foster children or had had some experience with foster care programs. The NFFC seeks to enlarge or broaden the base of potential foster parents. Increasing the number of capable, loving foster parents has the greatest potential to enhance foster children’s lives. NFFC has partnered with ODU to develop a targeted marketing program and media campaign to raise awareness and for recruiting additional foster families, with a focus on teen placements.
Secondly, through fund raising, NFFC is seeking to bridge the gap between what is available and what is needed, in order to provide some of the “extras” of life, such as birthday and holiday gifts, extracurricular activities, camperships and tutoring. Camperships have the added benefit of reuniting, for a limited time, some foster children with siblings. The tutoring program involves the NFFC hiring and paying qualified tutors to come to the homes of foster children to provide quality instruction to bridge learning gaps. The tutoring also continues after the child leaves foster case and returns to their biological home, which helps assure that the child’s progress continues.
It is apparent that while NFFC was just started in June 2016, the organization has been effective in partnering with groups such as ODU and TCC and with numerous corporate sponsors towards both raising awareness and funds to address the needs of foster children in our community.
The Meeting
The meeting was called to order by President Gary Boswick, who called upon Sigur Whitaker, with Frank Whitman on the piano, to lead us in song. Following the Pledge of Allegiance, President Gary led us in “The Four Way Test” and also gave the invocation.
Visitation Report: Joe New provided a visitation report.
- Mark Shaw is continuing on the road to recovery from his surgery. He is home, but not yet ready for visitors.
- Winston Whitehurst is recovering from a respiratory illness, which has temporarily laid him up, but he hopes to be back soon.
- Lorna Cochrane and Jane Dembert are both making progress on their hip surgeries, while Pam Tubbs is recovering from knee surgery.
- Ann Morgan, who keeps our finances straight, was in ICU at Sentara. She has improved, and has been moved from the ICU but she remains hospitalized. Let’s keep all of these folks in our prayers for a speedy recovery.
Guests: Jason Drane introduced our guests, who included the following: Corryn Peters and Jean Rosalia (Kelly Stefanko), Richard Litton (Gary Boswick) and Cathy Fitzgerald (Michael Desplaines).
“Happy Bucks” included Lisa Chandler regarding an article in Coastal Virginia Magazine, Ben Mason on his starting a new job with Union Bank & Trust, and Linwood Beckner announcing the birth of his grandson.
Those celebrating April birthdays include: Bernie Cohen, George Compo, Susan Donn, Karen Gershman, Mark Johnson, Ashley Molinaro, Ray Moses, Michelle Nettles, Joe New, Mark Shaw, Kelly Stefanko, and Winston Whitehurst. After a cheerful “Happy Birthday” by the Club, those adding a year this month were relieved of $2.00.
Three New Paul Harris Fellows: President Gary took great pleasure in recognizing three Rotarians as new Paul Harris Fellows: Jay Kossman, Michelle Nettles and Kelly Stefanko.
Optional Activities: Sharon Laderberg gave us our update on the “outside of meetings” upcoming events including a tour of the ADP One Building and offices on April 18th. She also gave us a “heads up” on the ‘Scavenger Hunt” in Downtown Norfolk on April 24th.
Dr. Steve Jones provided our update on “Suds and Buds”, our Spring Fund Raiser at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens on May 18, 2018, and solicited our support. We can support the project by contributing a bottle or two of wine, sponsorships, and of course, selling tickets and attending.
Meeting Conclusion: The raffle winner was Sharon Laderberg who failed to pick the Queen of Spades.
Next week’s program will be at the Town Point Club. The featured speaker will be Maestro Robert Shoup of the Virginia Symphony Chorus who will talk about “Singing as Humanity.”